News on Agra & Current Affairs

VIJAY UPADHYAY Aligarh.          The open-mindedness of metropolitan cities simply does not exist here. For the college girls in Aligarh, being seen roaming with their boy-friends in college time could mean instant expulsion from college and humiliation, not by the police, but by the “cultural commandoes” of the college.      Tired of receiving continual complaints from the parents of the college girls about their daughter’s liaisons with young men during college time, Manju Saraswat, principal of the renowned T.R. Girls College has setup a squad of college teachers that conducts raids in the markets all over the town, catching such college girls who are found roaming around in the market during college time.      During one such raid that was conducted by the disciplinary squad at a cyber café of the town on Wednesday upon information from the locals, a B.A. final year student of the college was found in “objectionable conditions” with her boyfriend inside the locked cabin of a cyber-

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA.          The international trends in footwear are changing fast these days with demand rising for fashionable footwear. The drab shades of “Blacks” and “Browns” are being replaced by patterned shoes with multiple shades.      To discuss the new demands of the Shoe retail segment in the international footwear market this winter, the Agra Footwear Manufacturers Chamber held a seminar on Shoe Retail Trends in hotel Holiday Inn of Agra recently in cooperation with Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Council For Leather Export (CLE) and Indian Shoe Federation.      An exhibition of new varieties of leather and footwear accessories available in the international market was also held on this occasion. The launch of “pointed shoe soles” for the first time in the town remained the chief attraction of this exhibition.      Later, talking to the media persons on this occasion, Puran Dawar, Managing Director, Dawar Footwear Industries said that the “sporty” look was on a

Vijay Upadhyay / Hathras Here is another instance that would, if nothing, buttress arguments of those who support life after death. Mahipal was 21 years old and happily married before he was murdered by his own friend five years ago. Now, "re-born" as his own nephew, he wants to make sure his murderer is sentenced to death -- through his "eyewitness" testimony. In an intriguing incident that has become the talk of Hathras town, a five-year-old boy claimed before a local court that he would present evidence of his "murderer". Sahib Singh Chauhan, assistant district government counsel Hathras, Mahipal, a resident of village Chhonk, had been murdered in 2000. Based on the evidence recovered from the scene of crime, the police arrested his friend, Ved Prakash. Ved Prakash was released on bail, after which he shifted to Aligarh. Since then, the case has been gathering dust in the fast-track Hathras court. On Wednesday, Nathiya, the mother of Mahipal brought a

Vijay Upadhyay / Agra In a bizarre incident, six brothers invited a friend home, drugged and sodomised him and later blackmailed him for money for two years, showing him photographs of the act. Unable to cough up any more money and face further insinuations, the victim finally lodged an FIR with the Agra police on Wednesday, charging the brothers of sodomy and blackmail. Speaking to The Pioneer, Wasim, a resident of Shahganj, said he was invited by Shahnawaz to the Wazir Pura area of the town about two years ago. There he met Shahnawaz's brothers, Bilal, Babbu, Bunty, Quadeem and Raheeso. According to Wasim, they all watched a pornographic film for a while after which they served him a drink mixed with some drug. When he woke up after a few hours, he realised that he had been assaulted by the brothers. Wasim, however, kept quiet about it and returned home. A couple of days later, Shahnawaz visited him and gave him an envelope containing photographs of him being sodomised. Shah